Esashi Town Tourist Information General Information Center
1-10 Ubagami-cho, Esashi-cho, Hiyama-gun, Hokkaido
Kaiyomaru Youth Center
0139-52-0117
Services and fees
Introduction - Esashi Town is a small port town about 3 hours west of Hakodate by car. Along with Hakodate City and Matsumae Town, it is one of the oldest towns in Hokkaido. During the Edo period, it prospered at the trading port for herring fishing and hinoki cypress (timber), and it said that it was more crowded than Edo in May during the fishing season. It was the territory of the Matsumae domain of the Edo Shogunate. But it was occupied by the escaping army of the Edo Shogunate that collapsed during the Boshin War. A civil war in Japan broke out in 1868 (the first year of the Meiji era). At that time, "Kaiyo Maru" which was the main warship of the former Shogunate Navy, sank off the coast of Esashi. The Kaiyo Maru has been restored at Esashi Port and has become a tourist attraction. Many old buildings remained in the town, and the atmosphere of the Edo period remains. Fresh seafood such as Japanese flying squid has become popular with tourists.
